Passive speaker with Sonos Amp alternative to Kef LSX recommendations

Had

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I've just picked up a set of Kef LSX's to replace a ageing pair of gen 1 Sonos 5's that won't stay in a stereo pair. The speakers are for a living room and I thought it would be nice to connect them up to the TV at the same time which is why I didn't opt for a new pair of Sonos 5's. Unfortunately, although the LSX sound way better than the 5's (room filling sound with better sound stage), there are just too many negatives in their usability that will grate long term.

I'm just looking at other options and I think the Sonos Amp is my best bet. Just looking at some packages being sold and they are pairing; Q Acoustics 3020i, Kef Q150, Kef Q350, Bowers and Wilkins 607 and Kef LS50. I need to go and give them a listen but can anyone offer some starting recommendations on a set of speakers to go with the Amp that might get closer to the performance of the LSX than the 5 pair?
 
There are just too many negatives in their usability that will grate long term.

What were the usability issues, was it more the connection to the TV that the speakers themselves?

Are you saying you want to return the KEFs and try something else? I would have though any mid-sized bookshelf speaker from a well regarded speaker manufacturer would pair fine with Sonos amp - I think the new amp is 125w per channel, so you'd want to ensure your speakers could handle that in case you accidentally walk the volume up (although you can limit the amps output in the app).

Another route, and I only mention it as it's what I am using it — not saying it's better or worse than passive — is to pair a Sonos Port (or older Sonos Connect) ie. no built in amp, with a pair of active speakers. I have a pair of Genelec 8020s (also in white) which are fine, obv. the 8040 models will get you deeper bass without a subwoofer, but the 8020 is no slouch eps. for their size. There's also plenty of other active speaker options, many at lower prices than the Genelec's being praised by users here.
 
The plan would be to return the KEFs and try something different. The original plan with the KEFs was actually to use them as active speakers paired with a Sonos Port as we listen to all our music through Sonos. I was waiting to see how I liked the speakers before buying the Port.

Usability is an amalgamation of small things in conjunction with them being in the living room. The remote is poor, I didn't realise how much I would miss physical buttons on the speakers, there is an audio delay with the analog in, if I want to connect the Port and TV via optical I would need a Coax / Optical converter switch device. I would rather take a hit on sound quality just for ease of use. I'm tempted to keep them for my desk setup as that negates those issues but don't think I can justify the cost.

When setting up the LSX I realised that I would probably have been better with featureless active speakers so I did have a quick look at that. Again I think the Port is a bad idea due to the lack of buttons (I had assumed it had capacitive touch buttons like the Amp but got that wrong).
 
I’m currently running a Sonos connect with a set of active JBL 305 speakers running Spotify through the Sonos.

Works perfectly and sounds very good indeed!!
 
re. remotes and physical buttons...

If Airplay 2 isn't a concern (there are workarounds like this or this) then you could pick up an older Connect secondhand which has physical buttons.

Also, the new Ikea Symfonisk 'Sonos' remote works really well (you also need to buy a gateway, but one gateway lets you run multiple remotes for multiple rooms/speakers)
 

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